Chapter 88: Double brace again
Behind the excited celebrations of the Dortmund players and fans was the dejection of the Benfica players and coaches.
Coming with a two-goal lead, they also want to score away goals to erase Cheng Hai's goal advantage in the first leg!
Unexpectedly, in the first 13 minutes of the game, their goal was penetrated twice, and the situation of the game changed radically, and now it is them who are behind.
If the match ends with the current scoreline, then Benfica will be eliminated from the tournament.
This is unacceptable to them.
They have to fight back, they have to score.
So, when the Dortmund players and fans were celebrating wildly, the head coach of Benfica had no choice but to give the players the order to counterattack.
If you don't counterattack, you won't be able to.
There is no point in Benfica continuing to hold on now, maintaining a 3-3 aggregate score until the end and they will still be eliminated by Borussia Dortmund.
Therefore, they can only counterattack and try to score goals.
On the one hand, one more goal would give them another lead on aggregate. In addition, it can also erase Dortmund's away goal advantage in the first leg at the Stadium of Light.
If they can score two goals, they can even reverse the advantage of away goals, making their two away goals require three goals from Borussia Dortmund to turn it around.
Anyway, they all had to attack, and Benfica's manager simply made a desperate bet, letting the players break the kettle, let go of their hands and feet, and fight against Dortmund.
Benfica were forced to this point, but for Borussia Dortmund, it was the most welcome to see it happen.
At the Westfalen Stadium, the overall form of the Dortmund team must be much better than that of the away team, whether it is Cheng Hai or other teammates.
After all, this is a familiar stadium and there are so many home fans cheering on the players, which is very stimulating for the players to perform.
Not to mention Benfica, even if Real Madrid and Barcelona come, Dortmund is not afraid to attack the opponent at the Westfaren Stadium.
This is Dortmund's favourite way to play at the Westphalad'Lenstadio.
What's more, the striker shooting skills of both sides are not at the same level at all.
If both sides create the same number of shots on goal, then Borussia Dortmund's Cheng Hai can definitely score more goals than Benfica's striker.
There is no doubt about it.
So, after the game resumed, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund teamed up to create a goal shootout for the fans in front of the stadium and in front of the television.
Although Benfica is attacking Dortmund with a desperate mentality, their offensive efficiency is indeed not as good as that of Dortmund with Cheng Hai.
In the 16th minute, two Argentine former talents, Aimar and Saviola, teamed up to create a wonderful front-court combination, and finally Aimar sent the ball into the penalty area with a clever pass, Saviola entered the penalty area to receive Aimar's pass and shoot directly at the goal.
It's a pity that Saviola's shooting skills can't reach the level of perfection of Cheng Hai, although he also successfully hit the goal frame, but the angle is not tricky, and the ball is easily saved by the comeback Weidenfeller.
In the ensuing corner, Benfica had no player to grab the first point and was cleared by centre-back Subotic in the box.
The geniuses of Aimar and Saviola combined failed to cause a goal, but on the Dortmund side, when the final shot was completed by Cheng Hai, the chances of scoring were many times higher.
Because it was a confrontation attack, the transition between attack and defense was extremely fast, so there were many offensive opportunities on both sides.
Although there is no guarantee that every attack can smoothly send the ball to Cheng Hai's feet, and Benfica also focused on Cheng Hai's defense, but in the 23rd minute, Cheng Hai still got a chance to shoot.
This opportunity was created by Benfica's counterattack after the attack was cut off.
Although Cheng Hai did not form an anti-offside position, he still used his running position and speed to easily get rid of the defenders who followed him, ran out of a gap outside the penalty area, and received a pass from Shinji Kagawa.
By the time Cheng received the ball, only the last centre-back, Anderson Luisson, was left in front of him.
Although Luison tried his best to block Cheng Hai's possible breakthrough or shooting route, Cheng Hai's full value of dribbling and breakthrough skills still made his defense ineffective.
Cheng Hai did not break through him, but took the ball into the penalty area, and shook a few times from side to side in the process of advancing, which made Luisson tired and exposed the defensive gap.
Cheng Hai then volleyed decisively, the ball evaded goalkeeper Bet, who pounced on the near corner, and drilled into the Benfica goal against the far post.
In the 23rd minute, Cheng Hai scored a brace to help Dortmund take a 3-0 lead in the game and rewrite the aggregate score to 4-3.
This time, Dortmund not only has the advantage of away goals, but also leads Benfica in aggregate.
The Hornets fans in the stands celebrated even more excitedly.
However, Benfica's players, although they sighed a little, did not completely lose their fighting spirit.
Because they know that as time goes by, Cheng Hai's physical energy will be consumed quickly, and Cheng Hai may fall before the first half is over.
Once Cheng Hai falls, they still have a great chance to reverse later.
Now, although they are behind on away goals and behind on aggregate, it only takes them one goal to level the aggregate score and erase Borussia Dortmund's away goal advantage.
Once two goals are scored, it can in turn form an away goal advantage against Borussia Dortmund.
So, they haven't lost hope yet.
After the game restarted, Benfica continued to fight against Dortmund, but the back line was more cautious and strict in its marking of Cheng Hai, and it was easy not to give counterattacks and run out of gaps to receive the ball.
As a Portuguese Super League giant, Benfica's heritage is indeed not small, and the strength of the players is not weak.
In particular, Saviola, nicknamed "Rabbit" among them, is quite technically excellent.
In the 30th minute, Saviola went straight to Dortmund with two people in front of the goal, and dodged the shot through rhythm and smashing the ball to score a low shot into the near corner.
Benfica finally scored away to level the score at 4-4 on aggregate and erase Borussia Dortmund's advantage on away goals, and they still have a chance to create more away goals.
Therefore, the Benfica players on the field celebrated fiercely, and a small number of Benfica fans in the stands were also very excited, clapping excitedly in the stands and screaming and cheering to celebrate this extremely difficult away goal.
On the other hand, the players and coaches on Dortmund's side looked a little heavy-faced.
Because, then, as long as Benfica scores one more goal, Dortmund will have to score two goals to win against the other side.
The advantage of away goals has been transferred to the opposition.
However, this did not shake Dortmund's determination to attack.
The Hornets were originally known for their attacking football, and Cheng Hai, Gotze, Shinji Kagawa, Lewandowski, Grosskloitz, Owomoyela and others were all very young.
At Westfaren Stadium, they are not afraid to play against anyone.
It's not scary to concede goals, as long as you can score more goals than your opponent.
What's more, this game is Cheng Hai's first start, and it would be a pity not to make full use of it.
Although Benfica pays great attention to the marking and interception of Cheng Hai's counterattack, Cheng Hai will not only break through in the middle.
Seeing that the opponent's middle defense was too much, Cheng Hai naturally switched to the side.
With Cheng Hai's speed, physique, and dribbling breakthrough skills, he is almost unstoppable on the wing.
Even if you can't get the ball over your team's head every time you cross a bottom, your team-mate will always take a chance if you make more of it.
In the 38th minute, the two sides fought in the midfield, and they were already out of breath and switched to the right side for a slow walk.
Suddenly, Sebastian Kyle intercepted the Benfica player's pass midway through a tackle and lay on the ground and swept it past Mario Gotze.
Dortmund instantly turned defense into attack, Cheng Hai, Barrios, Grosskloitz, Kagawa Shinji and others rushed towards the opponent's goal.
Of course, there were also people who immediately went to grab the ball at the feet of Gotze.
But Gotze didn't stick to the ball at all, and after smashing the ball to dodge a gap, he passed the ball to Shinji Kagawa.
Shinji Kagawa first took the ball to the left to attract the attention of the opponent's defense, and then passed the ball to the right side where Cheng Hai was located with a long diagonal pass.
Shinji Kagawa's pass was very accurate, allowing Cheng Hai to easily receive the ball, and then dribble the ball to the bottom line.
Cheng Hai is naturally the target of the opponent's focus, but at the moment, there is only one full-back Gaitan who can interfere with Cheng Hai.
Such a little-known player, and not a professional defensive player, how can he be prevented from encountering a pervert like Cheng Hai who is full of speed, dribbling, and physique?
Cheng Hai stabbed the ball from the inside of Gaitan with a simple human ball, and then Cheng Hai overtook Gaitan from the outside at full speed, circled from the sideline, and then ran back to the court to receive the ball he had come out of.
Even after a circle from the outside, Cheng Hai's astonishing speed still allowed him to catch up with the ball before Gaitan, and used his strong physique to get Gaitan stuck behind him.
Although Gaitan pushed Cheng Hai hard and wanted to push Cheng Hai down, Cheng Hai, who was already 179cm tall and weighed 75kg, was not something that Gaitan could push down casually with the blessing of his full physique.
Unless it is with the mentality of deliberately committing a foul and using all his strength to push Cheng Hai. Otherwise, it is generally impossible to push down Cheng Hai if he is afraid of the small actions that the referee will find.
This time it was the same, the moment Cheng Hai caught up with the ball, Gaitan failed to push Cheng Hai down, and then Cheng Hai threw him away with the ball.
Even when running with the ball, Cheng Hai is faster than Gaitan.
After breaking through Gaitan, Cheng Hai had already come to a position almost level with the line of the big penalty area, and full-back Pereira appeared on the inside line diagonally in front of him.
Pereira didn't dare to block in front of Cheng Hai, because he was afraid that Cheng Hai would take the opportunity to cut inside and kill the penalty area, so he could only block the inside line diagonally to avoid Cheng Hai from cutting or passing the ball with the ball.
But Cheng Hai took advantage of Pereira's position, poked the ball directly to the bottom line, and then squeezed it with a strong physique and super fast speed, and Pereira couldn't pull Cheng Hai when he wanted to reach out.
Cheng Hai observed the movement of his teammates in the middle while dribbling to the baseline, and then took advantage of the difference in speed to stagger Pereira a little when he was close to the baseline, and obtained a passing gap.
Then, Cheng Hai immediately got up and crossed.
Although Pereira threw his entire body out in a hurry, trying to fly to block the gun's hole, but because he was slower than Cheng Hai before, he finally failed to block Cheng Hai's passing route in time.
Cheng Hai's full-value cross and the ball from the long pass in the air passed in front of Pere's stretched toe and flew to the back of the penalty area.
The Benfica defenders and goalkeepers, who were attracted by Cheng Hai's wide break and Barrios' running position rushing to the front post, were deceived.
Cheng Hai's cross was not for Barrios, but for captain Sebastian Kyle, who rushed into the box and ran to the gap outside the back corner of the small penalty line.
Kyle took a slight leap with little interference, and with an easy flick of his head, he headed the ball into the back corner of the net.
Goalkeeper Bate, who was in front of the goal, couldn't make a comeback, and just ran to the middle of the goal, he watched as the ball was headed into the goal by Kyle.
In the 38th minute of the first half, Dortmund scored again, the goal was scored by captain Kele, and the assist was Cheng Hai.
Cheng Hai has once again completed the goal and assist double brace, helping Dortmund to lead Benfica with an aggregate score of 4-1 in this game and 5-4 in the two legs.
This is the second time in a month that Cheng Hai has scored a double brace with a goal and assist, the last time the victim was Bayern Munich, and this time the victim is also not unknown.
Even the commentator of the neutral TV station was extremely shocked and sighed:
"Cheng Hai, who started for the first time at the club, completely dominated the game, and the contribution of scoring goals and assists not only allowed Dortmund to recover the disadvantage of being two goals behind in the first leg, but also allowed Dortmund to overtake the aggregate score and occupy the initiative to advance to the quarterfinals."
"Cheng Hai's performance is phenomenal! This season's Bundesliga Golden Boot is likely to be Cheng Hai's, and this year's European Golden Boy Award will undoubtedly be Cheng Hai's bag. ”
"In addition, if Cheng Hai can really help Dortmund win the double of the Bundesliga and the League Cup this season, and Messi, Ronaldo and others do not show more convincing performances, I even think Cheng Hai is qualified to compete for the Golden Ball!"
"You know, this is Cheng Hai's first season in professional football!"
"Such a shocking performance, appearing in a Chinese teenager, really subverted my perception of football!"
"Perhaps, this is a once-in-a-century super genius bred by more than a billion Chinese people!"
After Cheng Hai assisted Kyle to score Dortmund's goal to take the lead again this time with a cross from the side, his physical fitness was basically at the limit and he couldn't run.
For the rest of the first half, Cheng Hai barely ran anymore, let alone sprinted, at most he used his physique, stopping skills, and dribbling skills as a transfer station for passing and receiving the ball, but let him sprint with the ball and break through, there was nothing he could do.
It can only be placed in Benfica's half, and the opponent is a nuclear deterrent, but the real offensive ability is no longer at all.
Even so, no one in Benfica dared to be careless, for fear that Cheng Hai would suddenly break out again after taking a walk and resting, and if he scored another goal, then Benfica would be completely cold.
Fortunately, Cheng Hai did not break out in the last few minutes and did not score.
But on the contrary, Benfica, who were involved in some of the midfielders by Cheng Hai and Barrios, also failed to score and equalize the aggregate score in the remaining time.
After one minute of stoppage time, the two sides entered the break with an aggregate score of 4-1 in this leg and 5-4 in both legs, and Dortmund, who were playing at home, temporarily led their opponent Benfica by one goal on aggregate and occupied the initiative to advance to the quarterfinals.
Although Cheng Hai barely ran much in the last few minutes, occasionally passing and receiving the ball and confronting the opponent's body still made Cheng Hai's physical energy quickly exhausted.
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half and left the game at halftime, Cheng Hai was paralyzed again, and he was supported by Shinji Kagawa, Barrios and others from both sides before he walked off the field out of breath.
If other professional players are so poor in physical fitness that they can only play half the court and have to be supported by others at halftime, they will definitely have to be laughed to death by their opponents and booed to death by their own fans.
However, it is clear that Cheng Hai is not an ordinary player.
It was his first start in a high-intensity club game and played the full 45 minutes of the first half, and in the space of 45 minutes he scored a horrific goal and assist double to help Dortmund turn from first leg down to take a 5-4 aggregate lead.
This performance alone deserves a round of applause from all the home fans.
When Cheng Hai left the court, the Hornets fans in the stadium gave him a standing ovation, and countless people shouted Cheng Hai's name to pay tribute to him.
Even the Benfica players and fans, who were opponents, looked at Cheng Hai, who seemed to be weak and was supported by his teammates, and his eyes were quite complicated.
Without Cheng Hai, Benfica could have taken advantage of the huge advantage of leading by two goals in the first leg to deal with Dortmund in a timely manner and gain the initiative to advance to the quarterfinals over two legs.
Unexpectedly, first Dortmund's head coach Klopp shamelessly played a little trick and deceived Benfica up and down with the starting lineup.
Then, Cheng Hai, who started for the first time in the club, burst out with so much energy, and even staged a trick of scoring goals and assists twice in this game.
Such a performance simply made Benfica's players and coaches despair.
Of course, this is not the most desperate.
The most desperate thing is that although Cheng Hai was supported by his teammates at halftime, Cheng Hai did not cramp and fell down after all.
What does this mean?
Those who have learned about this year's Qatar Asian Cup know that Cheng Hai in the Chinese national team used the way of starting and recovering from quick sleep at halftime, and insisted on being replaced until sixty or seventy minutes in the second half.
This means that Cheng Hai can also use this method in this game, take a good rest at halftime, and play another twenty minutes in the second half.
This is naturally even more desperate for Benfica, who are already behind on aggregate!
Everyone can only pray, hoping that Cheng Hai only needs to take a break and sleep for ten minutes to recover most of his energy.
In addition, I also hope that Cheng Hai will not play so well in the second half like in the first half.
The double brace of goals and assists is enough for any player, right?
I hope Cheng Hai is also content, and don't be so "perverted" in the second half!